1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a facsimile transmission processes and machines, and more particularly, to a method and an apparatus for remotely selecting messages received from the facsimile machine and confirming and the reception of the messages at a remote location.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a facsimile machine prints and output messages received from a facsimile machine of a calling party. If the facsimile machine is out of its printable medium such as paper, the facsimile machine temporarily stores received messages in a memory and then prints the stored message received when paper is added to the machine. Thus, it is possible for a user to confirm that the message has been printed on the paper.
A facsimile machine using a conventional method for remotely confirming that a message has been received is disclosed in Korean Patent Application No. 92-19761 filed by the same applicant as of the present application. That method enables the user who is at a remotely located place from his or her facsimile machine to confirm whether or not messages have been received. In accordance with the conventional method as exemplified by the Equipment For Notifying The Arrival of a Correspondence At A Facsimile Receive, To The Ultimate Addressee, U.S. Pat. No. 4,654,718 to T. Sueyosgi, the Facsimile Message Recorder And Relay System And Method, to T. N. Chen, U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,049, the Facsimile Machine Having User Notification Capability, to J. F. Bell, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,127,047, and the Method And Apparatus For Facsimile Enhancement, to G. V. Fuller, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,224,156, a remotely located user is able to be automatically notified of the reception of a facsimile message and in some instances, to have that message forwarded to the remote location in its entirety. In order for the user to confirm the receipt of a message, the facsimile machine determines whether or not a calling tone CNG has been inputted from the calling party in response to an input of a ring signal when a remote reception mode has been set. If the calling tone CNG has been received from the calling party, the facsimile machine receives the message from the calling party, and then stores the received message in its memory. On the other hand, if the calling tone has not been received from the calling party, the facsimile machine checks for an input of a secret number. Such security systems are representative by Method And System For Storage And/Transmission Of Confidential Facsimile Document by W. Von Meister, U.S. Pat. No. 5,452,099, the Sender-Based Facsimile Store and Forward Facility by M. C. Bloomfield, U.S. Pat. No. 5,404,231 and Automated Facsimile/Voice Managing System by R. Metser, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,357,562. If the secret number has been correctly received, the facsimile machine transmits the received message stored in the memory to the calling party. Other efforts, such as that represented by Interface System And Method For Interconnecting A Voice Message System And An Interactive Response System by R. Irribarren, U.S. Pat. No. 5,349,636, the Facsimile Telecommunication System And Method by R. J. Gordon, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,459,584 and the Facsimile Telecommunication System And Method by R. J. Gordon, U.S. Pat. No. 5,291,302, the Interface Between Tert And Voice Message System of A. A. Penzias, U.S. Pat. No. 5,475,738, and the Method And Apparatus For Non-Simultaneous Transmittal And Storage Message And Digital Text Or Image by Y. Brandman, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 5,483,580 contemplate a response to an inquiry presenting a message identification number, by transmitting a voice message generally representing the text of the facsimile message. Although there may be a plurality of received messages, the above method remotely confirms and transmits all of the received messages. Therefore, there may arise problems in that the cost for telephone usage is unnecessarily high due to confirmation and transmission of all of the messages received including wrongly received messages and unsolicited advertisement messages and in that it takes a long period of time to confirm and transmit the received messages.